1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bacteria filter unit for use in anesthesia application or other respiratory procedure, which filter unit has a two-piece housing, with said housing being formed with a unique sealing interlock means for locking the two portions of the housing together in sealing relationship and retaining a bacteria filter media between the two housing portions by means of the sealing interlock.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many different bacteria filter devices are presently on the market. The various filter units and devices available today use many different types of filter media. However, the majority of the bacteria filter units in use in the medical field today are complicated, costly to manufacture, and expensive to use.
Most bacteria filter units are of at least a two-part construction, with the two parts being assembled together after the filter media has been installed within the two parts or attached to one of the parts of the filter unit. The two portions of the filter unit are usually joined together by engaging threads formed on the two parts of the filter body, or are glued or welded together in some manner, such as hot glue, ultrasonic welding or other method.
Each of these methods of assembly are quite expensive and do not always produce satisfactory results. Problems of leakage and high costs of assembly are presented.
Another problem area presented by the present filter units available on the market today occurs in those filter units which are designed to be conductive. Many times good conductivity is difficult to obtain between the various parts of the filter unit after the components are assembled together, due to the fact that the filter media sometimes acts as an insulator between the components of the filter unit. In addition, when hot glue or other sealing material is used, the sealing material often times acts as an insulator between the components.